Bali and Korea -- April 1, 2012

Left for the 9:30 English-language church service at 8:20. Made good connections on transferring so arrived at the City Hall subway station around 9. This was my old stamping grounds three years ago when I lived in Seoul for 3 months – so much so that I turned to go to the exit I would take to go to my lodging rather than the exit nearest the church. Turned myself around and ended up at the Anglican Cathedral in plenty of time.

The priest was new; had been here about 9 months. He is an American; the previous minister was from Northern Ireland. Of the approximately 50 people in attendance, I recognized four from three years ago. It is a very transient congregation – and also a very diverse one. It is attended by westerners (U.S., Europe, Australia, New Zealand), Africans from several countries, and people from a variety of Asian countries as well as Koreans, either married to the above or interested in using English.

After the service I wandered around the area which has many things to see. The new city hall is under construction. I’d seen drawings and a model for the new building in 2009. Thought then that it would be a monstrosity – and from what I could see above the construction barriers my opinion remains the same (the metal area with the clock and screen is a facade covering the old city hall building).

The statue of Admiral Yi, a famous naval leader of the late 16^th century, has been located in the same place for a number of years – but it is now part of an expanded and developed square, built in conjunction with the reconstruction of Gwanghwamun, the gate entry to Gyeongbok Palace.

A statue of King Sejong, a 15^th century ruler famous for his interest in science and for the creation of the Korean language alphabet, has been added to the square.

And from the rear of the statue is a lovely view of the front of Gwanghwamun (gate) with the Palace and the mountains in the background.

The square is also a key location of demonstrations of which the Koreans are quite fond. I discovered this group demonstrating about the ownership of Dokdo and the name of the body of water in which it’s located. A billboard about the same issue was featured in a previous blog.

The demonstration

which I joined. . . .

Underneath Gwanghwamun Square a museum about the lives and careers of King Sejong and Admiral Yi has been created. It is very well done, and I found it extremely interesting. There was a replica of the throne of Joseon which I, like most of the visitors, used as a photo op.

The final, decisive, sea battle led by Admiral Yi was depicted by a movie recreation which took place on a screen behind small models of the warring ships. At the end of the movie the screen opened revealing a ½ scale replica of the famous turtle boat he created and used to win the battle.

Took a long walk in the area, visiting the Kyobo Book Store (a huge book store) and observing street entertainment in front of the Bosingbak (an historic belfry) apparently sponsored by Red Bull,

Then I took the long way to the subway station walking along Cheonggye, the recreated stream in the middle of the city. Even on a cool April 1 many people are out enjoying “nature.”

There is a lovely water screen which would be more enjoyable without the explanation on the accompanying sign which says: “Samgak water screen helps remove a bad smell from a sewerage arrangement and you can enjoy the scene of the water screen in Cheonggyecheon. This fountain is established in the form of curtains for the scenic beauty.”

Arrived back at InAe’s house at 4 p.m. to find that most of the family members had already arrived for the family gathering. (I thought the party was to start at 5 p.m.) It was great fun to see InSook’s two sons, their wives and daughters and InAe’s son and daughter, their spouses and children. With six girls between the ages of one and fourteen and one boy age four, things were a bit chaotic (to put it mildly). It is such fun to see the children from four families getting along well and enjoying each other’s company.

Here’s InAe’s entire family

I didn't get a group picture of InSook's family, just individual pictures. But I did get a good one of her oldest (and I think favorite) granddughter. Esther.

Of course there was lots of food – homemade and delivery (pizza, chicken).

Dessert was a cake which, by tradition, must have candles even if there’s no birthday. And the candles were lit and blown out twice! It's so much fun!!

A good time was had by all. But by the time the last folk left around 8 p.m. I was exhausted! Had to spend some time packing since tomorrow I will leave InAe’s house and go to a traditional Korean hotel, an outing organized by HongTaik. I will be there for two nights with HongTaik and then leave from there for the airport on Wednesday morning.